A HOUSEHOLDER has been given the go-ahead for a kitchen extension and told there is no need for a plan to reduce light spilling from it. 

James Colthart applied for planning permission to replace the garage at the side of his bungalow at Laurel Park in St Arvans – which is within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – with a single-storey extension to create an open plan kitchen living space and study. 

But the AONB officer raised concerns about the amount of glazing to be used in the side and back of the 6.5 metre wide by 9.5 long extension, which will look out on to the open countryside and said “extensive glazing could reasonably cause possible excessive light spill in the evenings.” 

It was proposed a condition be attached to the planning permission to reduce spillage before the glazing is fitted which would be known as a “detailed transmitted light mitigation and management scheme”. 

But Monmouthshire council planners said a number of other homes that are also on the boundary of St Arvans have features such as conservatories and larger windows at the ground floor could be created without the need for planning permission so found a planning condidtion couldn’t be justified. 

Planners also noted the width of a driveway would be extended, to compensate for the loss of the single space garage, and that there is enough space in the curtilage of the property to meet the council’s three parking space standard.